


The Lone Witches Star

by Fight_bee



Category: South Park
Genre: Alternate Universe - Witchcraft, M/M, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-22
Updated: 2019-01-22
Packaged: 2019-10-14 10:34:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17506961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fight_bee/pseuds/Fight_bee
Summary: Craig Tucker and his family move to a small mountain side village where there is plenty of fresh air, hoping that Tricia's health might improve. When her chances of survival are looking slim Craig takes things into his own hands and desperately searches for a cure, but what he finds is not exactly what he was looking for. (also help i dont know how to indent on this site)





	The Lone Witches Star

**Author's Note:**

> hey guys! this started off as a final for my creative writing class and I liked it so much I tweaked some things and made it into an au. It might be a little ooc but it was just for fun, enoy!

        Craig dipped the bloody rag into the cold basin of murky water, wringing it furiously to rid any trace of bodily fluid. His fingers were numb as he hung the rag above the stone oven, ignoring his mother’s distressed wails coming from the other room he silently slipped outside and sat on the uneven stairs of their cottage. His younger sister Tricia had been getting worse. When their parents announced they would be leaving the city for the small mountain village of southern stark the two siblings immediately knew why. Despite their parents' story of bringing financial ease to the family, it was clearly obvious they wanted to move Tricia away from the smog and dense population. Southern Stark was known for its vast mountain range and surplus of wild herbs growing all around the village, it had sounded like the perfect healing place for Tricia’s condition at the time.

          Craig watched the night sky intently, if there was one thing he enjoyed since moving away from the city it was that he was finally able to see stars for the first time in his 17 years of living. Letting his eyes wander from the sky and onto the mountain range Craig could make out the familiar silhouette of a hut in the distance. Upon arriving to their new home, it was one of the first things to catch his attention. The small hut had been so far away and out of place, Craig couldn’t help but ask the other residents about it. He quickly learned that Southern Stark wasn't too keen on discussing their experiences with outsiders. Apparently, it belonged to a witch who would take children in the dead of night. Fear and paranoia fueled gossip soon spread through the small village, many would swear they could hear the shrieks of lost babies echoing down the mountain.

Most of the men grew tired of the fear that was consuming their wives and children and decided to band together and burn whatever they found on the top of that mountain range to the ground, ending the stories once and for all. They had been missing for an entire day, only to return in a weaponless daze with no recollection of what exactly had happened once they reached the top. After that the nights were quiet, and everyone silently agreed to ignore the hut in peace. Craig snickered at these stories, as interesting as they were no one had gone missing during the time, and he had heard many ghost stories born from bored teenagers in the city. Craig continued to watch the hut silently before noticing something odd. Before he could properly comprehend what he was looking at, the front door of his cottage swung open startling him. The apothecary who had been treating his sister was standing above him, looking well worn.

“Didn’t mean to give you a scare Craig,” He said squinting his eyes.

Craig stood up at once “Is it…getting better?” He asked cautiously.

“I’ve been doing the best I can but—" the apothecary glanced at the door and lowered his voice nervously “I’m no miracle worker. And lord knows your sister needs one.” With this he gave Craig a polite yet sympathetic smile and headed back into the town square.

Craig swallowed the nervous lump that had began to bubble in his throat before turning his attention back towards the mountain range. There was a thin trail of smoke coming from the huts chimney. It was barely noticeable but unmistakably there. The apothecary’s words rattled freshly in Craig's brain before settling and offering him an idea. It was a stupid idea he had thought, but an idea nonetheless. He was going to ask whatever he found up there for a miracle.

After marching through the thick brush and scaling difficult terrain for some time Craig began to wonder if he was starting to lose his mind. He and his family both knew their desperate attempts to find Tricia a cure at this point were in vain, but he didn’t even want to picture the looks they would have given him if they knew he was seeking help from a cautionary tale and following a literal smoke trail there.

He eventually found flat ground and could see a vague twisted shape through the trees. Craig held up his lantern with white knuckles and revealed the ancient hut, it looked as if it had grown from the earth itself. Strange ornaments made from small bones and inscribed stones hung from the roof and window sills. The overwhelming urge to turn around was growing into an icy pit in his stomach, but before he could take the chance to turn around the light of his lantern flickered out. He supposed he had no choice but to go through with his plan.

He had tried knocking on the door more than once only to be met with silence. Craig could feel himself growing restless, against his better judgement he reached for the doors handle and heard a faint click as he pushed it open. Inside was pitch black, the only things Craig could make out were illuminated poorly by the moonlight slipping through the doorway. The scent of mildew lingered under heavy notes of oils and herbs, stacks of books and jars littered whatever space was not already occupied with scales and other strange rusted machines. Craig walked in cautiously, leaving the door open and calling out to ask if anyone was home. As he wandered, he came upon an open book, the print was handwritten in messy and unintelligible characters. Craig brushed his fingers over the page before reeling back as if he had burnt his hand; the ink was still wet.

A loud BANG shook the hut and enclosed Craig in the darkness once again, he jumped backwards sending the pile of books and jars crashing onto the floor. He tried to make himself as still as possible, he could hear shallow ragged breathing from the other side of the small room.

“I know you’re here!” the disembodied voice made Craig wince, it reminded him of nails on a chalkboard. “You can’t take my blood, I won’t let you!”

Craig was taken aback, he squinted in confusion even though the room remained pitch black, “I uh, I don’t want your blood.”

The darkness in front of him grunted nervously in reply. “I’m here for the witch. I mean I need her help, I’m not here to hurt anyone.” He finished lamely.

The breathing seemed to slow down, and before Craig could say anymore an oil lamp dimmed on, revealing a timid blonde boy. His wiry hair was as dirty and unkempt as the clothes he was wearing, and his eyes were unsettlingly large and green. Craig stared with his mouth agape. “Where is she?” he asked dumbly, glancing around the boy. This question seemed to startle the other, he had a slight tremor to him that was hard to ignore and almost uncomfortable to look at.

“There’s no one else here, it should be just me,” He trailed off and began tugging at his hair.

“Is it you, are you the witch?” Craig was grasping for straws at this point, but he couldn’t let go, it was too odd of a situation to accept at face value.

“I don’t know about witch, but I think I—" he winced and twitched as he struggled to get his words out “maybe if I …” he trailed off again not giving a definitive answer.

Craig could feel anger begin to bubble in his guts and the possibility of curing Tricia seemed to inch further away the longer he talked to this person.

“Can you help me or not?!” He interrupted the boys mumbling, unable to help the harsh edge in his voice

The boy began to tremble harder, looking terrified and confused at the result of Craig's outburst. He was trying to interject but his fractured sentences were being interrupted by Craig's accusations of wasting his time. The boy was on edge, Craig noticed he was gripping two fistfuls of hair and breathing in an uneven pace. This only excited him more, he could feel months of suppressed grief spilling out of him as he yelled at the stranger.

“STOP, I WANT OUT, I WANT OUT!” the shrill voice had cut through Craig's words in an instant, and the oil lamp beside them burst sending hot glass shards flying through the hut. Stunned silence enveloped them both, Craig's anger vanished at once and hope began to flood him once more.

“You…the light,” Craig's voice had softened and so had his expression. “What’s your name?”

The boy wrung his hands nervously, avoiding Craig's eyes, “…Tweek.” Craig blinked, it was an odd name. Definitely fit for a witch.

“I’m Craig, I think you might be the miracle I’m looking for Tweek.”

Craig's routine for the next few days had kept him busy but glimmering with hope. In the mornings he would watch after Tricia, replacing her bloody rags with clean ones every so often. When his parents arrived home from work he would slip off to Tweek’s hut, thankful that they never gave much mind to his whereabouts these days.

Tweek was unlike anyone Craig had ever met before. He was beyond paranoid, and never failed to ask Craig a “safety question” before letting him in the hut. Craig had quickly grown accustomed to his constant trembling and could easily tune out whatever sounds he would involuntarily make. Despite Tweek’s odd nature Craig couldn’t help the fondness he felt for him after agreeing to help Tricia. They decided on making her a potion of sorts, Tweek had expressed his desire to stay hidden and explained that everything they needed could be easily found in the woods surrounding his hut.

“I’ve been mapping stars east from here—” Tweek shuffled through a shelf lined with thick books and scrolls before pulling out a fairly new looking piece of parchment, “it, uh, helps so no one sees me in the day, and certain plants grow under different c-constellations so I...” He turned to look back at the other and was immediately taken aback. Craig’s eyes were wide with awe as he stared at the parchment in Tweek’s hands before asking if he could look for himself.

“That’s amazing…you taught yourself?”

A faint blush creeped up Tweek’s cheeks as he avoided eye contact once again, grunting in reply. Craig quickly realized how close they were standing, he had always tried to keep a cautious distance between them. What surprised him more was the fact that Tweek didn’t shy away from him.

“I can teach you if you w-want.” Tweek wrung his hands nervously, it was obvious that this was his way of telling Craig he trusted him. Craig smiled and nodded enthusiastically. For the first time Tweek had smiled back.

Tricia and Craig had always been close, they weren’t always the best at making friends and decided they didn’t really need to as long as they had each other. She was always the more expressive of the two, Craig’s father had always pressured him to keep his emotions in check, telling him that men don’t get hysterical. Tricia always balanced him out, for that he was grateful and always did his best as her older brother to watch out for her. Craig hadn’t realized how lonely he had been until he had met Tweek and was pleased that the other had seemed to be opening up to him as well. Craig had picked up on how to navigate the night sky quickly whenever he and Tweek would scout for ingredients

“She’s going to love this.” Craig said scanning the sky for Sirius, they were moving further east each night in search for a rare plant called dittany. It was the final component needed for Tricia’s cure.

“I’m sorry?” Tweek poked his head up from the map he was studying vigorously.

“Tricia, when you heal her I’m going to take her out here, she hasn’t been able to leave her bed in a while—” Craig's brows furrowed slightly before he could finish his sentence.

“You could bring her by the hut, if you w-want,” Tweek quickly interjected before Craig’s thoughts could get the best of him.

“Really?”

“Yeah, I w-would be happy to meet her…I’ve never really had fr—” Tweek gulped hard and gripped the map tighter “friends before.” Craig smiled at Tweek, just as he was about to reply he noticed a small bush of pillowy looking leaves, they were identical to the sketches Tweek had shown him before their expedition.

“This is it!” he slid to the ground ushering Tweek to follow so he could collect it.

Back at the hut, Craig watched as Tweek measured, cut, and cooked the ingredients they had been collecting. It had been hard not to stare, Tweek was always jumpy and unsure of his actions but as he worked his movements were confident and swift; he was a natural. Tweek finished bottling it up before explaining that Tricia would only need half and handed it to Craig, whatever confidence he had slowly started to leave him, and his ears glowed bright red.

“Craig, I have to tell you something…” his fingers lingered over Craig's and he began to choke up. “Before you go there’s something you need to know about me…and y-you.”

Craig could hear his heart beat in his ears. It was obvious that there had been something between them, but he didn’t think Tweek would be the one to bring it up. Before Tweek could get another word in Craig embraced him in a tight hug, burying his face in the others neck. He had expected to feel Tweek shake, but he was still.

“I know.” Craig couldn’t help the smile that was ghosting his face

“Really? And y-you aren’t mad?” Tweek blinked, it seemed as if he was preparing himself for the worst.

“Why would I be mad? I kind of had the feeling this whole time, but I didn’t really know how to bring it up.” He noticed the glossy appearance of Tweek’s eyes before he returned Craig's embrace letting out a relieved breath.

“You’ll come back when it’s over?” Craig could feel Tweek’s words reverberate in his chest.

“ 'Course I will, and I’ll bring Tricia like I said I would,” With this they separated, the bottle pulsed warmly in Craig’s hand as he made his way down the familiar mountain path.

It had been hours, and nothing had happened. Craig’s joy slowly turned into a cold realization that rose with the sun. He grabbed the bottle that Tweek had gave him and ran to the apothecary’s shop. The man behind the counter looked shocked but welcomed him nonetheless.

“Tell me what this is, quick,” He gasped for air as he pushed the bottle into the apothecary’s face ignoring pleasantries.

The apothecary’s eyebrows disappeared into his hair as he examined Craig and then the bottle. He opened it, sniffed it, then eventually tasted it cautiously. This had only taken about 30 seconds but to Craig it had felt like an eternity. He was hoping that his suspicions were false, that the apothecary wouldn’t be able to identify the supposed powerful elixir that took weeks to brew, he was hoping most of all, that he just hadn’t waited long enough for it take effect.

“Where did you get this?” the man was squinting at the bottle, he didn’t wait for Craig’s reply before going on, “This is one well-made flu tonic, I could have given you one myself but my recipe doesn’t have any dittany in it that’s for sure.” He handed the bottle back to Craig, not seeming to notice the others stunned silence.

“Whoever made that is one skilled apothecary! Don’t go putting me out of business now Crai—” Craig was already out of the shop before he could hear the rest. He made a beeline straight for Tweek’s hut, despite the fact it was well into the morning. He had held onto the thought that there had been some sort of mistake, that Tweek was distracted and bottled the wrong thing. He repeated the lies to himself until he made it to the top of the range.

Craig banged on the door impatiently, Tweek opened immediately and was beaming, the smell of fresh bread wafted out of the hut.

“Craig! I decided to m-make someth—” Craig pushed his way through Tweek and his smile suddenly vanished.

“Flu tonic?” was the only thing Craig could manage to say, his insides felt so constricted it was as if they were coiling into each other, winding tighter and tighter.

Tweek’s brows furrowed in confusion, a small tremble began to make its way through him.

Craig continued, “You wasted my time with a flu tonic. You’re a witch, why would you do this to me? To HER?”

“Craig I—”

“You thought you could just waste my time because you were lonely? Did you think I wouldn’t find out?”

“You told me that—"

“I told you what? Just because we had one moment, that doesn’t change the fact that you’re killing my sister! Why would I want to be with some, some FREAK who lies to people and lives alone on the top of some mountain?!”

This sentence seemed to physically punch Tweek in the stomach, He was pulling so hard on his hair and shaking so violently. The sight of this made the coils in Craig’s stomach snap. Books and jars began crashing all around them violently as a gust of wind circled the inside of the hut, Craig could taste electricity in the air as he watched Tweek struggle against the wind towards him.

“Craig listen, l-listen to me!” Tweek struggled to get the words out, he was yelling over the shattering of glass and groaning wood, tears welled in his eyes as he reached out towards the other.

“I thought you knew—” he was grasping Craig by the shoulders, his voice was as screechy as it had been the first night they had met, “I thought you knew it was you!” Everything froze, the books and trinkets were suspended in air.

“What?”

“You’re the one doing this, it was never me, I was going to tell you, but you said y-you already knew.” Tweek’s tears were flowing freely now and his grip on Craig was uncomfortably tight, it looked as if his legs would give out at any second.

Everything suddenly clicked, Craig’s anger melted away into disbelief and he hadn’t realized he was holding his breath until he exhaled. The objects that were suspended around them came crashing down.

“I can do magic?” was all that he could say, his mind suddenly felt very blank and his limbs became heavy with exhaustion. Tweek lead him to a rickety wooden chair and sat him down before wringing his hands nervously.

“Craig I-I thought you knew, I didn’t want to lie to you but last night you said y-you weren’t mad,” Craig snapped his head up to look at Tweek, his face was red and streaked with tears, shame and embarrassment began to manifest in Craig's throat as he realized the misunderstanding.

“I’m confused,” Craig said weakly.

“I’ll tell you e-everything,” Tweek took a seat next to Craig, “I used to live here with my parents. I don’t remember much but they taught me most of everything I know now.” Tweek’s eyes dropped and focused on the grain of the table in front of him. “They were really into superstitious stuff, b-before settling up here they collected grimoires—” Tweek gestured to the many books now laying on the floor with their pages strewn about. “They wanted to experiment with whatever they could get their hands on…They would always make me try their new tinctures and tonics. I hated them, I would always feel funny and nervous, a-anyways—” he took a deep shaky breath, “One day they sent me on my f-first run alone to get them some ingredients. When I came back there was this smoke everywhere. I felt so sick, so I stayed behind in the woods until it cleared up. I came around the front and I saw a group of men u-unconscious, they had weapons and torches with them, so I took all the things that could hurt me, and I threw them into the woods. I ran into the house and my parents were…gone.”

Craig's blood had run cold immediately recognizing that he had heard this before, instead of saying anything he continued to listen.

“They were experimenting with snakeroot and nightshade, it ended up making an airborne poison that killed them. It only knocked out the men though. I tried to d-drag them as far away from me and my p-parents as I could. I buried them out back. And I’ve been alone ever since raising myself. Y-you were my first and only friend Craig.”

He went on to explain that the first night Craig had done magic he had been too stunned to tell Craig that he wasn’t a witch. Tweek figured he could make a tonic to keep Craig around until he came up with a way to tell him the truth. He was going to tell Craig that he himself couldn’t do anything, that Craig could heal Tricia and he had all the information he would need in the hut. As time passed Tweek found himself not wanting to say goodbye to Craig, fearing that he would be alone once again.

“You can still save her,” Tweek said with as much reassurance and confidence he could muster, finally looking Craig in the eyes.

“…We can still save her, together. I need you there, you know about this stuff and...you bring something out in me that lets me do magic,” Craig felt silly saying those last words but it didn’t make them any less true. “I’ve never been good at expressing myself, whenever I’m with you I can—” This time it was Craig who avoided eye contact, “I feel like I’m able to feel things again.”

Before he knew it, Tweek was pulling Craig from the chair and held his hand tight, “Let’s go save your sister.”

The two ran hand in hand to Craig’s cottage, ignoring the shock from the residents of Southern Stark. Craig's parents had long since left for work, he led Tweek into Tricia’s room still holding hands. He clasped the bottle of tonic in his free hand and focused on Tricia’s smile. He thought of the times they had spent growing up with each other, of the new things he couldn’t wait to show her now. He thought of the three of them, enjoying Tweek’s homemade bread while they watched for meteor showers. The bottle began to pulse warmly like it had the night before when Craig had thought Tweek was confessing his feelings. He gently held her head up and fed her the tonic. Tweek was rubbing gentle circles on the inside of Craig's hands as they both held their breath.

Tricia’s eyes flickered open weakly, her eyes finally settling on Tweek and Craig’s crouching figures. He embraced her, laughing with relief.

“Craig? What’s going on?”

“Tricia, I have so much to tell you,” Craig said, the room was warm, and his heart had never felt so full.


End file.
